Homelessness is an issue we need to address, along with Food Stamps.
Envisioning the end of homelessness
Billy Bishop speaks to a press conference for National Homeless
Persons' Memorial Day at The Federated Church of Hyannis.
Bishop was a homeless person and now works with the Homeless
Not Hopeless.Cape Cod Times/Steve Heaslip
HYANNIS — Cape Cod may seem to visitors like an area of ease and affluence, but the reality is that keeping the poorest and most at-risk residents in homes is as difficult as in any urban area.
A dozen advocates gathered Saturday at The Federated Church of Hyannis to give an update on how well the region is taking care of residents who live out-of-doors: near ponds, behind libraries and in the woods.
The occasion was the National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day, held annually since 1990 on or near the first day of winter to remember homeless people who died in the last year. The commemoration on Cape Cod was scheduled to continue at 5 p.m. with a prayer service on the Hyannis Village Green and a service to follow at the Federated Church; then at 7 p.m. informal story-telling and sharing was planned at Cape Cod Covenant Church in Brewster with several people planning to spend the night outside in tents to show support of efforts to end homelessness.
On Cape Cod, 10 homeless people died in the last year, Duffy Health Center Chief Executive Officer Heidi Nelson said. But Nelson cautioned against drawing conclusions about a trend because the count varies from year to year.
"Ten is clearly the smallest number that we've had since we've been doing this event," Nelson said Saturday. "But I don't think you can draw any conclusions about what's happening out on the street."
In January, when the Cape's annual point-in-time count of homeless people is taken, there were a total of 388 people, according to Paula Schnepp, coordinator of the Barnstable County Regional Network to Address Homelessness.
There is some positive news about poverty levels, which contributes to homelessness, Schnepp said.
In 2010, about 24,000 people, or 11.3 percent of the year-round population of the Cape, were living under the federal poverty level; in 2011 that count decreased slightly to 19,500. The federal poverty level for a three-person family is an annual income of $18,500.
"To bring this home, when you have these low incomes and your housing cost is high, there's a real gap," Schnepp said.
The NOAH shelter in Hyannis, the Cape's only emergency shelter for men and women, averaged 49 residents per night in the last year, Housing Assistance Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Presbrey.
Ideas for ways to involve more people on the Cape included asking everyone to give up a Christmas gift and contribute the money to efforts to end homelessness, and to hold events at schools such as job fairs that give students ways to learn about social causes they can become involved in.
"What space do we have for young people to be part of what we do?" the Rev. Lawrence Brown, vice chairman of the Cape Cod Interfaith Coalition, said.
Having minimum-wage levels raised and more housing are part of the solution, Schnepp said. State Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, in his remarks, called for federal tax reform after telling a story of flying over coastal communities in New York and seeing large, seasonal homes with square footage enough to provide housing for many homeless people.
"We do have a problem," Wolf said. "This is not a tough economic time anymore. We do have enough money to go around. It's a question of political will."
After the speeches, and a few blocks away from the church, at Eve's House, a nonprofit residential home for women run by Homeless Not Hopeless Inc., Chief Operating Officer Bob McGillveary led the way to the living room.
A Christmas tree was decorated in the corner, and greenery was wrapped around banisters.
The women tend to make more of an effort at decorating than the men do at a similar residential home in the neighborhood, McGillveary, who has been homeless in the past, said.
"I'm all about giving people second chances, or third or fourth," McGillveary said.
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